More Than 70 Overdoses In New Haven Spark Drug Investigation

At least 41 people reportedly overdosed at or near New Haven Green, a local park, between Tuesday and Wednesday, with some 25 overdoses occurring over a period of three hours Wednesday, CBS reports.

People started falling ill Wednesday morning, mostly on the New Haven Green near Yale University.

First responders scrambled all day Wednesday to handle almost 80 overdoses caused by what officials believe to be synthetic marijuana, which is commonly called K2.

He says one of the victims still had some of the drug, which was sent off to a lab for testing.

In some cases, patients who were hospitalized later returned to the Green and had to be treated a second time, New Haven Police Officer David Hartman told WTIC.

WVIT reports that the man arrested "is believed connected to at least some of the overdoses" and "had drugs on him at the time of his arrest, [but] has yet to be charged in any of the overdose cases". No deaths have been reported, and officials said most patients have been discharged from hospitals.

The 16-acre Green, which the National Park Service says dates back to 1638 and is one of the oldest in New England, is a focal point of downtown New Haven.

A "mass overdose" appears to have taken place in a CT park today (Aug. 15), according to news reports. Some people were unconscious, others were semi-conscious.

Dr Kathryn Hawk, an Emergency Department physician at Yale New Haven Hospital, said the drug was laced with fentanyl, but police have yet to confirm this. About five of his friends from the city's green overdosed on Wednesday.

"Yesterday was extremely, extremely busy, something we haven't seen in quite some time, a lot of people dropping all at the same time", Fontana said.

Drugs, particularly fentanyl, are now deadlier in the USA than either HIV, vehicle crashes or guns, the report said.

The victims ranged in age; however, many are part of the homeless population in the city, police said. "We're eager to raise awareness at the highest levels of the federal government for a better sense of what happened and the challenges that urban centers face in terms of combatting a persistent, vexing presence of people with substance abuse disorder".

More than a dozen people overdosed on synthetic marijuana at the same park July 4.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy tweeted that the emergency in New Haven was "deeply troubling and illustrative of the very real and serious threat that illicit street drugs pose to health of individuals". By late Wednesday night there had been no deaths reported.

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